Richmond warehouse aims to be peerless

The Earl and Countess of Stradbroke are selling their four-level Richmond warehouse property in a sale that is expected to reap at least $3 million.

Known as the ”Aussie Earl”, Keith Rous and wife Roseanna bought the derelict building – which was formerly used to store maltings for beer brewing – for $300,000 in 1995.

The property now boasts four bedrooms, formal dining room, full-floor living room, big main suite and four bathrooms.

Outside, there is a one-bedroom self-contained retreat and space for eight cars.

Abercromby’s director Jock Langley is running an expression-of-interest campaign for 45-47 Lyndhurst Street that closes on December 8. Rous, a Sydney businessman, inherited the British title in 1983, after it was originally created for an ancestor in 1821.

About the time the couple bought the property, Rous changed the family’s traditional motto to ”We fight like lions and breed like rabbits” – in recognition of his favourite hobby, ”making babies”.